Chapter 25: Apex Predator
He broke our swords into pieces, and then we jumped back away from him. His energy was increasingly getting unstable. We didn’t have enough time to escape, and I had no idea how much power he would release.
There was only one thing I could do
In that fleeting moment, I turned around and hugged Sane tightly to my chest to shield him from the explosion. Still in the Solid State, I thought my enhanced healing might give both of us a chance to survive the explosion.
Sane tried to push me away, but I held him with all my strength. Then, Hira 125 exploded, releasing energy equivalent to 50 kilotons of TNT—far beyond anything I’d expected. At hyper-cognition, I realized then that no amount of regeneration could save me; I was about to be reduced to ash.
I felt the skin on my back tearing apart, and in that instant, my only hope was that Sane would survive. Suddenly, a protective coating formed over my skin. The blast’s force ripped through everything around us, hurling us hundreds of meters outward and carving a crater at the island’s center.
Opening my eyes, I was amazed, realizing I was still alive. The protective layer disappeared from my skin. By sheer luck, we survived Hira 125’s attack.
As I gathered my thoughts, I suddenly looked and realized I was naked—the explosion’s heat had incinerated our clothes—but I still held onto Sane. Trying to process what had happened, I felt something soft against my chest. I looked down and couldn’t believe my eyes: two bosoms pressing over my chest.
Sane lay unconscious. Thinking I might be hallucinating, I examined her closely. But I wasn’t dreaming. It was real! Sane was a woman!
It was astonishing—her face was breathtakingly beautiful, almost too serene for an assassin. Stunned, I quickly climbed off her.
Confusion overwhelmed me. I realized she must have had her own reasons for hiding her sex. I darted around, searching for something to cover her with. Spotting some nearby military gear, I dressed her quickly before the others arrived.